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6 juni 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smAhiovowiM&bpctr=1385826263
Geert Wilders's revelations
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tAE0ZIb--I
18 JUNI 2010
Flashmob Boycott Israel - Netherlands
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzMnzg9XEPE
http://www.bdsmovement.net
Follow Me, do as I do: Don't buy Israeli Apartheid
30th of March, International BDS day.
Utrecht, Netherlands
Boycott Israeli products as long as Israel doesn't comply with international law. Don't do business as usual with a country that commits the crime of Apartheid.
27 JUNI 2010
Pro-Israel Demonstration in the Netherlands
Many Dutch still stand by our closest friend Israel and the people of Israel. We are enternal friends, in history anti-Semites were the ones who sold our Dutch land and murdered our people for a foreign occupier. Today anti-Semites have infiltrated politics and are actively denying the Jewish democratic state of Israel a right to exist . Yet they pressure our government to do little about human rights abuses in the Arab world including the racist genocide against Africans in Darfur.
We stand with the democratic Jewish state of Israel. Israel is our bufferzone against the jihad, and above all a miraculous nation holding out against so much hate and terror against all odds. We love Israel, Israelis, Israeli culture and stand in full solidarity with the IDF.
Today the Dutch Jewish community is under fire, people are being attacked for wearing Jewish symbols, synagoges are attacked or operate under disguise. Most of these attacks come from Arab youth who are completely out of touch with Dutch society. Yet their electoral capacity causes many political parties not to address the serious problems. 28 oct 2010, 02:19 , Respect -
Maria 6 juli 2010
Nazi Fugitive Lives Cozy Life in Germany
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_NlTCj-7pI
Berlin - The unbelievable story of a Nazi criminal who escaped a Dutch prison and fled to sanctuary in Germany, which still refuses to extradite him due to a law legislated by Hitler. The British Sun on Monday published photographs of Klaas Faber, the Dutchman who volunteered to the SS and was convicted of war crimes, strolling through a park with his wife in Germany -- despite having been sentenced to death and then having his sentence commuted to life imprisonment.
8 aug 2010
Formation Dutch Cabinet
Geert Wilders Hitlerjugend
Formation Dutch Cabinet: C.D.A. V.V.D. backed or cleared by P.V.V.
On Tuesday, August 10th the formation of a Dutch cabinet will start finally. This by the way is of no importance whatsoever, as politics IS showbizz for ugly people. Protecting lies and distracting attention from what is important.. and covering things up. Left wing is used to imply ridiculous taxes and right wing for implementation of unveiled fascism.
It will be VVD (peoples party for freedom and democracy), CDA (christian democratic appeal) influenced by PVV(party for freedom). Now it might not be a suprise but what their names stand for has nothing to do with their policy. As CDA P.M. Balkenende's brother is piping oil wells from Iraq to Israel, and our infamous fearmongerer Wilders of PVV wants to deport Muslims that violate the law and tax headscarves. These men constantly violate the law with slander and lies, and not less; they back genocide! Dare I say all three parties are zionists..
The word on the streets is that the right(wing) parties had joined forces and the "lefties" had not. And the "informers" (informateurs) to the Queen have done a bad job. The "elite" have plans and voting won't stop the attrocities. Though peacefull resistance and civil disobedience is the way to justice and peace, as the great awakening continues. Inform!
Freedom of speech is not a reality in this world, questioning numbers and details of the "holocaust"[from greek;Holokaust = burning sacrifice) can get you in trouble!
As long as the state of Israel keeps murdering innocent protesters (also israeli jews) who oppose the 62 year illegal occupation and massacres/(black flag terrorism, there will be the "anti-semitism" trick. Judaism and Zionism are opposites. On the May "Freedom Flotilla" were holocaust- and USS Liberty survivors!
Before any would start about anti-semitism I suggest you google "NETUREI KARTA" (Guardians of the city) or see "SOKPOP77" channel on youtube for information by Jews. And the Palestinians are a Semetic people!
(Also much thanks to Norman Finkelstein, Noam Chomsky, Michaell Hoffman II, John Pilger, Robert Fisk and many others!)
http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/6470097-formation-dutch-cabinet
Israeli lawyers sign petition to prosecute Klaas Faber
A petition signed by 150 local lawyers calling upon the Israeli government to urge Germany to take legal action against a convicted Nazi was submitted late Wednesday to the office of Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman. The petition urged Neeman to take action against SS executioner Klaas Faber, who is living unpunished for his crimes in Ingolstadt, Bavaria.
The petition, which was organized by Advocate David Schonberg, expressed the lawyers sense of outrage that Faber, who was sentenced to death in the Netherlands for a string of murders he carried out in the service of the SS but who escaped to Germany in 1952, has been living unprosecuted and unpunished in Germany for decades, despite several requests from the Dutch government for his extradition to serve his sentence, which had been commuted in the late 1940s to life imprisonment.
The Wiesenthal Center's chief Nazi-hunter, Dr. Efraim Zuroff, welcomed the initiative and added that Germany's failure hereto to put Faber on trial or return him to Holland are a travesty which must be corrected as quickly as possible, while justice can still be achieved.
http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=184021
15 aug 2010
ZIONISM UNITES WITH ALL OF FASCISM TO SMASH ISLAM
By Khalid Amayreh, Occupied Jerusalem
A few years ago, the Israeli government invited the leader of Dutch fascism, Geert Wilders, to Jerusalem in order to spew forth his venom against Islam and Muslims. Mr. Wilders is noted for his desire to ban the Qur’an, as Hitler’s book “Mein Kampf” has been banned. During Ariel Sharon’s term of office, the head of the Italian fascists, Gianfranco Fini, was given a warm welcome in Israel. An anti-Islam statement by Fini was enough to turn him from a supposed persona non grata into a great friend of the Jewish state to be afforded VIP treatment.
Israeli belligerence prompts fascist support in the West
It is one of the paradoxes of Israel that the Jewish state has a lot of support amongst right-wing and fascist groups in the West. The common factor appears to be hostility towards Islam and Muslims; in short, Islamophobia. Israel’s belligerence against the Palestinians (the Christians amongst whom are overlooked by the extreme right) is championed.
However, a closer examination suggests that extreme right-wing ideology and extreme interpretations of Zionism go hand in hand. As the government coalition in Israel moves ever more to the right, it is worth considering the residual influence of the Kach Party, banned in Israel in 1988 for its extreme racist views.
Kach was formed in the early 1970s by an American-Israeli rabbi, Meir Kahane, who wrote a book called “They Must Go” in which he called for the ethnic cleansing of all non-Jews from mandatory Palestine, including Israel, the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem; voluntarily if possible, by force if necessary.
When his openly racist ideology was attacked as anti-democratic by mainly leftist circles in Israel, Kahane fought back, arguing that democracy was incompatible with Judaism and that faithful Jews ought to discard democracy and adopt Jewish law as the law of the land. According to his Orthodox interpretation, Jewish law treats non-Jews as slaves, and those refusing to settle for the status of slaves have to be expelled or killed.
Kahane’s party was banned after he had been elected to the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, mostly in order to save Israel the public relations disaster he and his party were causing the Jewish state, especially in the West. However, Kahanist ideology continued to grow in Israel, so much so that the current coalition government in Israel, headed by Benyamin Netanyahu, has been described as a fulfilment of Kahane’s vision.
The rise of Kahanism in Israel has been matched by a rise in Jewish extremism in Europe and North America. Baruch Goldstein, the settlers’ “hero” of the Ibrahimi (Hebron) Mosque massacre in 1994, was an American citizen who, like Kahane, migrated to occupied Palestine.
It is not so long ago that European and American Jewry was at the forefront of liberal forces in their respective countries, fighting for the cause of human rights and civil liberties. Indeed, until very recently, Jews were among the fiercest opponents of the forces of racism and xenophobia around the world.
It is disturbing, therefore, to see Israeli flags carried by members of the so-called English Defence League (EDL) in Britain, a group of fascist Islamophobes devoted to incitement against anything and everything Islamic or Muslim. These English Kahanists are adopting Nazi ideology with the exception of hostility towards the Jews.
The afore-mentioned shift to the extreme right in Israeli politics and the muted, if any, condemnation of the racist antics of the EDL by Jewish representative bodies in the West has prompted suggestions that increasing numbers of Jews now do not view fascism, even in its most virulent form, as anything distasteful, as long as it doesn’t target Jews. That this should be the case, given Jewish history in the 20th century, is astonishing, although those brave Jewish voices which speak out against all forms of racism and fascism are to be applauded.
In the United States, even Jewish organizations with a track record of anti-racism, such as the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), are signalling support for right-wing opponents of an Islamic community centre in New York City, criticism of which borders on racist Islamophobia. Abraham Foxman, the ADL’s Director, has conceded that there is no legal justification for opposing the Islamic Centre for which the authorities have given approval two blocks away from Ground Zero in Manhattan.
Foxman, who has supported consistently every conceivable Israeli war crime against the peoples of the Middle East, believes that it is not right to build the centre, which would include a mosque, since doing so would hurt the feelings of racist, anti-Islam fanatics.
Unfortunately, some Jews are at the forefront of opposition to building the Islamic Centre, which is intended to be a bridge between communities in the city. Some of these Jews have likened plans to build a mosque near Ground Zero to erecting a memorial for Adolf Hitler near Auschwitz.
Of course, such statements should be treated with the contempt they deserve. After all, Hitler and his right-wing fanatics were responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of people across Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and Russia; 20 million Russians died in World War Two alone. To compare the planned Islamic Centre with such death and destruction is scandalous, but it is a reflection of the rightward drift in politics, even within Jewish communities which really ought to know better.
A few years ago, the Israeli government invited the leader of Dutch fascism, Geert Wilders, to Jerusalem in order to spew forth his venom against Islam and Muslims. Mr. Wilders is noted for his desire to ban the Qur’an, as Hitler’s book “Mein Kampf” has been banned. During Ariel Sharon’s term of office, the head of the Italian fascists, Gianfranco Fini, was given a warm welcome in Israel. An anti-Islam statement by Fini was enough to turn him from a supposed persona non grata into a great friend of the Jewish state to be afforded VIP treatment.
There are many examples of Zionist Jews embracing fascist and extreme right-wing leaders in the West as long as the latter have shown their credentials by maligning Islam and standing with Zionism against the legitimate Palestinian cause.
This appears to vindicate those who see in Zionism an opportunistic, immoral and racist ideology that uses and abuses Judaism and those Jews – “Torah Jews” – who practice it. The latest connections with fascist movements do not suggest that this is likely to change any time soon.
http://fwd4.me/0kzQ 1 nov 2010, 21:29 , Respect -
Maria 26 aug 2010
Breaking the silence & the Netherlands in Hebron
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMAkJnKlg-E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKo2dRVg0e4
Topical Category. Ghost-Town of Hebron. In the series of special reports that NCRV Network's exceptions in the fourteen years of existence: a demonstration in Hebron two years ago. Israeli peace activists arrive in the occupied city in the West Bank into conflict with Jewish settlers. A team of Network stood in the middle. The Israeli peace activist Yehuda Shaul protest in Hebron against the presence of eight hundred settlers among 160,000 Palestinians live. Presentation: Ghislaine Plag.
Actualiteitenrubriek. -Spookstad Hebron. In de serie bijzondere reportages die NCRV's Netwerk uitzond in de veertien jaar van zijn bestaan: een demonstratie in Hebron, twee jaar geleden. Israëlische vredesactivisten komen in de bezette stad op de Westelijke Jordaanoever in aanvaring met Joodse kolonisten. Een ploeg van Netwerk stond er middenin. De Israelische vredesactivist Yehuda Shaul protesteerde in Hebron tegen de aanwezigheid van achthonderd kolonisten die te midden van 160.000 Palestijnen zijn gaan wonen. Presentatie: Ghislaine Plag.
http://player.omroep.nl/?aflID=11305130&silverlight=true
1 sept 2010
Destroyed Gaza Seaport: Why Doesn't Dutch Government Demand Compensation from Israel?
Israel's military attack on the Gaza Strip-bound Freedom Flotilla, which resulted in the deaths of nine international activists, the injuring of dozens and deportation of hundreds, launched the Gaza Strip to the top of international news worldwide. This reminds us of the Gaza Sea Port, which was never finished.
After all, the blockade on Gaza, which prompted the Free Gaza Movement, prevents Palestinians from importing or exporting freely. An important part of the blockade is Israel's policies which prevent the construction of a seaport in the Gaza Strip.
The Oslo Accords mentioned the Gaza Seaport as early as 1993. In the 1990s the Dutch government was approached concerning funding and construction of the seaport. The Dutch government was selected because it was assumed its good relations with Israel would increase the probability that Israel would allow the project to be completed. The Dutch government was willing to spend 40 million Dutch guilders (about 18 million euros) on the project, which eventually increased to about 22 million euros. Later the French government and the European Investment Bank also contributed. A Dutch engineer, Arie Mol, was approached to design the port. A Dutch and a French company, Ballast Nedam and Spie Batignolles, were hired to construct the port. In 1994, when the contract between the construction companies and the Palestinian Authority was signed, the total costs were estimated at 100 million guilders (about 45 million euros).[1]
The first years after the construction contract was signed, no construction took place. The Palestinian Authority negotiated with Israel about the start of construction, but without any results. The Dutch government even hired security experts from the port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands to offer advice. Nothing satisfied Israel. Israel continued to use security as a reason to delay the start of construction.[2] Construction of the seaport was made almost impossible because of Israeli policy. Israel prevented construction materials from reaching the construction site.[3] Raw materials were kept months before they were cleared through customs. During these months they were stored in Israeli warehouses for which storage fees had to be paid. It then took a while to get these materials to get through the checkpoints between Israel and Gaza. Finally, when the raw materials reached the construction place, workers were held endlessly at checkpoints while they were paid to sit in their cars. In the summer of 2000 construction of the seaport finally commenced.
In September 2001, during the Second Intifada, Israel bombed the Gaza Sea Port. At this stage the seaport was basically a sandbox with a fenceand some barracks, with Dutch and French flags proudly flying. The seaport was completely destroyed.
Israel justified this bombing by claiming that mortars were fired from the construction side towards the nearby Israeli settlement of Netzarim. Western diplomats deny this possibility: the construction site was highly secure and was upward sloping from the coast, such that there was accordingly no line of fire.[4] The then Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Wim Kok, said that what is given by one hand is destroyed with another and that it is difficult to understand.[5] The Dutch Minister of Development Cooperation, Eveline Herfkens, was outraged about the attack.[6] However, this was the extent of the response by the Dutch government.
Bert Koenders, at that time a member of parliament, acted to hold Israel accountable for its destruction, but Kok did not want that to happen. As Koenders was only a member of parliament and not a government minister, he did not possess the power necessary to hold Israel accountable. So, what Koenders did was raise the issue during meetings, attempting to convince the government to take responsibility by requesting repayments from Israel. The Netherlands and Israel have secretly discussed compensation payments for the destruction by Israel, but finally the Dutch government did not file any claims.[7] Israel did not pay back anything to the European donors for its destruction of the nascent Gaza Seaport. More than 4.5 million euros were spent on studies, schooling and small-scale construction activities for the seaport. The damage caused by the Israeli military bombing was calculated at more than 300,000 euros.[8] After the destruction, donor funds were withdrawn and no rehabilitation/construction has since taken place.
Presenting the bill to Israel makes sense and is legally possible. The problem is that there are several European countries, including the Dutch government that are preventing this from happening.[9] So, when Israel destroys a building or infrastructure that was built with Dutch or European Union money, Israel will not be held accountable, while the international community pays for rehabilitation of these buildings and infrastructure. If the international community continues to work like this, there is no (economic) incentive for Israel to refrain from bombing any Palestinian building and infrastructure (built with international aid money). It is therefore very likely that Israel will continue its policy of destruction as long as the international community does not put political and/or economic pressure on Israel. The international community then continues to rehabilitate what Israel destroys. This will not empower the Palestinians living under occupation, but will rather continue to contribute to the de-development of the Occupied Palestinian Territory.[10]
[1] De Volkskrant, (1994), Ballast Nedam, De Volkskrant, at www.volkskrant.nl.
[2] De Volkskrant, (1998), Eerste steen haven in Gaza nergens meer te vinden, De Volkskrant, at www.volkskrant.nl.
[3] De Volkskrant, (1998), Pronk verwijt Israel trage aanleg haven, De Volkskrant, at www.volkskrant.nl.
[4] Trouw, (2001), Israel vernielt Gaza-haven, Trouw, at www.trouw.nl.
[5] De Volkskrant, (2002),Israel praat over vergoeding schade in Palestijns gebied, De Volkskrant, at www.volkskrant.nl.
[6] De Volkskrant, (2001), Herfkens woest over aanval Gazastrook, De Volkskrant, at www.volkskrant.nl.
[7] Supra 3.
[8] De Volkskrant, (2001), Nederland stopt bouw haven Gaza, De Volkskrant, at www.volkskrant.nl.
[9] The European Union functions in a way that all countries must agree on certain decisions or else these decisions cannot be made. So, if only one country objects to presenting Israel the bill of what it has destroyed that was built with EU money, Israel will not be held accountable.
[10] The Zembla documentary Geen geld voor Gaza is also used as a source of information for this article. For the documentary see zembla.vara.nl.
http://fwd4.me/0l4Z
20 sept 2010
Dutch cancel visit of settler leaders
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs canceled a tour of Israeli leaders on learning that participants included mayors of illegal settlements, Israeli press reported Sunday.
The visit was organized by local authority unions in both countries, and was due to take place next month, the Israeli news site Ynet reported.
The Dutch local authority union said it decided to delay the tour when it obtained information which had not been presented when it was first approached to help organize the tour. The union explained "This mainly refers to information on the delegation's composition," Ynet said.
Israeli peace group Gush Shalom said the cancelation was "a warning sign on the wall."
The group sent a letter to Shlomo Buhbut, head of Israel's Local Government Association, writing, "You have submitted to the Dutch what purported to be a list of heads of municipalities in Israel, wishing to hold an official visit there. It was no great feat to ascertain that some of them were not at all from Israel, but from the settlements in Occupied Territory which are outside the borders of Israel."
In a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, currently refusing to submit to international pressure to extend restrictions on illegal settlement building, Gush Shalom wrote that the canceled tour was "but a small sample of what we can expect should you give in to the pressure of the settlers and their helpers and decide next week to resume settlement construction in the occupied territories.
"The Netherlands are known over many years for a deep friendship toward Israel, but neither the Netherlands nor any of Israel's other friends would ever agree to the existence of settlements in Occupied Territory. Not only is this a serious violation of International Law, but is also blocks any chance for peace in our region, thus increasing instability in the entire world. The choice you and the whole country face is sharp and clear: either peace or settlements, either Israel's acceptance as a legitimate part of the region or international isolation and the loss of even our staunchest friends." .
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=316183
23 sept 2010
BNC welcomes cancellation of visit by settlement mayors to Netherlands
Occupied Palestine, 23 September 2010 - The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC), on behalf of its constituent organizations and unions representing the majority of Palestinian civil society, warmly salutes the decision taken by the Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG), in consultation with the Dutch Foreign Ministry, to cancel a visit by Israeli mayors due to the fact that six members of the proposed delegation are leaders of illegal Jewish-only Israeli colonial settlements in Occupied Palestinian Territory.1
There are now over 150 settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, housing 475,000 settlers and covering more than 40% of the West Bank. The settlements are deliberately constructed in order to place essential Palestinian agricultural and water resources in Israeli control.2 Israel's colonial settlement enterprise destroys Palestinian lives and livelihoods and results in the expropriation of Palestinian private and public land and the illegal annexation of territory to Israel. All of these are illegal under international law and prevent the achievement of just peace.
Under the IV Geneva Convention, Israel's transfer of its own civilians into the Palestinian territory it occupies constitutes a war crime. The United Nations has consistently and repeatedly affirmed that the Convention applies to Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory.3 Due to the fact that Israel applies its own domestic civil law to the illegal settlements whereas the occupied Palestinian population is subjected to Israel's military orders, these settlements also entrench an apartheid regime which is a crime under international law.4 The International Court of Justice in its 2004 advisory opinion, moreover, has reminded states of their obligation to ensure Israel's compliance with international humanitarian and human rights law and to not render aid or assistance in maintaining the unlawful situation created by Israel.5 The BNC therefore welcomes the decision taken by the VNG to uphold this obligation.
At the same time, the BNC is concerned about the fact that the VNG says it has taken this decision based on its desire to maintain neutrality, because neutrality is an inappropriate response to serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. Illegal Jewish-only settlements in Occupied Palestinian Territory are but one part of Israel's system of occupation, colonisation and apartheid over the Palestinian people. This system persists in a large part due to the failure of the international community to take the steps necessary to pressure Israel to cease its transgressions of Palestinian rights. In response to this failure Palestinian civil society issued in 2005 a call for a campaign of boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel until it complies with international law a call that has been heeded by people of conscience all over the world, not least in the Netherlands.
Citizens and state bodies in the Netherlands and throughout Europe played a vital role in the end of apartheid in South Africa with concrete steps of solidarity.
It is worth mentioning that the South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) in South Africa has recently launched a campaign to rid local municipalities of contracts and products that support Israeli impunity we call upon the VNG to investigate the possibility of implementing a similar campaign in the Netherlands, focused on settlements as one of the most obvious and ongoing Israeli violations of international law. In effect, with its latest decision, the VNG has upheld the morally and legally sound principle that if an Israeli delegation refuses to exclude representatives of illegal institutions it should not be welcome in the Netherlands, Europe or anywhere else.
This same logic has been used by some supermarket chains applying ethical guidelines in regard to
Israel's illegal settlements specifically, whereby they have stopped stocking all Israeli products because Israel has consistently refused to properly and adequately label settlement products. It is now well documented that Israel has done everything in its capacity to deceive Dutch and European consumers by obfuscating or twisting facts about the origin of various products, thereby violating EU laws and regulations. Especially after the ruling by the European Court of Justice in the Brita case that Israeli goods produced in the Palestinian territories cannot benefit from EU trade privileges,6 it should be completely unacceptable for European states and municipalities alike to continue allowing all Israeli products that may include settlement products or components to enter European markets, enjoy tax breaks under the EU-Israel Association Agreement (despite Israel's violation of its human rights clauses), and compete unfairly against local products. Israeli produce grown on stolen land and irrigated with stolen water should simply not be allowed into the markets of any state that claims the most basic adherence to international law and human rights.
We call on the VNG and Dutch civil society to implement Israeli settlement product free zones and to investigate what other steps can be taken to hold Israel accountable to international law and support the Palestinian struggle for justice and self determination.
The BNC further calls upon the VNG to thoroughly examine its relationship with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, the organisers of the delegation,7 and the relationships with Israeli municipality associations it says it maintains.8 Given the inclusion within, and active support of, illegal Israeli settlements maintained by these organisations, any links with them are an active endorsement of Israel's settlement project in much the same way as accepting the proposed delegation would have been.
Once again, the BNC warmly salutes the principled decision taken by the VNG. We hope that it can be built upon by further actions in support of freedom, justice and equality.
BNC Secretariat
http://bdsmovement.net/?q=node/771
30 sept 2010
Dutch advertising watchdog criticizes Israel tourism maps
THE HAGUE, Netherlands %u2014 The Dutch advertising watchdog on Thursday alleged that Israel is publishing misleading information on its tourism website that blurs the borders between Israel and occupied Arab territories.
The Advertising Code Committee stated in a nonbinding ruling that material distributed by the Dutch branch of the Israeli National Tourism Board does not "clearly show where the border lies between what is internationally recognized as Israeli territory and 'disputed' areas."
Pro-Palestinian activists complained that the maps gave the impression that parts of the Palestinian West Bank and East Jerusalem are in Israel, as well as the Golan Heights captured from Syria.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor rejected the criticism Thursday. He says "the situation is ambiguous."
http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=189774 5 nov 2010, 01:08 , Respect -
Maria 8 oct 2010
Dutch deliver banned nuclear equipment to Iranian group
Improper supply goes ahead after IAEA order UN watchdog mum on queries as to whether it violated EU sanctions.
BERLIN Authorities in the Netherlands improperly supplied nuclear equipment to the sanctioned Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), the Dutch Economic Affairs Ministry wrote in an October 4 letter obtained by The Jerusalem Post.
According to Economic Affairs Minister Maria van der Hoeven's letter, That shipment contained a helium-leak detector, which was ordered by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in line with its technical cooperation program with Iran, [but] was shipped to a banned recipient (AEOI).
The UN agency's involvement in the delivery of EUsanctioned material raises thorny questions about the role of the IAEA in monitoring Iran's illicit proliferation efforts.
The American government sanctioned the AEOI under an executive order and the US Treasury Department noted that The AEOI manages Iran's overall nuclear program and reports directly to the Iranian president.
According to Van der Hoeven's letter, a second illicit shipment consisted of products under embargo (pressure meters) for the Iranian oil and gas industry.
Ruud Stevens, a spokesman for the Dutch Economics Ministry, wrote the Post by e-mail on Thursday that the letter of October 4 was a letter to the Dutch parliament from three ministers economic affairs, finance (customs) and foreign affairs about goods that because of the sanctions were not supposed to leave the Netherlands.
Since the goods left the customs territory of the European Union before the error was discovered, there was no possibility for our customs to stop the goods from being transported.
The public prosecutor is currently examining whether there is sufficient information for prosecution of the exporters for violation of the sanctions legislation.
Stevens added that The Dutch authorities and Dutch customs are currently working on implementation of the new UN and EU sanctions against Iran.
In a telephone interview with the Post on Thursday, a spokesman for the IAEA in Vienna said that we do have technical cooperation with Iran and other states.
When asked about the delivery of nuclear equipment ordered by the IAEA to a USrestricted Iranian entity, AEOI, the spokesman could not immediately comment.
It is unclear if the IAEA improperly supplied a sanctioned Iranian entity with equipment. The delivery of the Dutch material violated EU sanctions.
The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran is the main official body responsible for implementing regulations and operating nuclear energy installations in Iran.
Yanaï Bar, the coordinator of the Iran Committee in the Netherlands, told the Post on Wednesday, that The Iran Committee is disappointed to see that after all the labor it took to formulate sanctions to punish Iran for not cooperating satisfactorily with the IAEA, the sanctions are not always being implemented effectively.
The Iran Committee seeks to stop Iran's nuclear program and to improve human rights conditions in Iran.
The minister of economic affairs must guarantee she will do all she can to ensure that mechanisms are in place to guarantee that the sanctions are implemented on the ground. Publishing far and wide a list with forbidden products and prosecuting those who breach the regulations would be a good start, Bar said.
http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=190646
The Case Against Riwal: Corporate Complicity in International Crimes
- 19 oct 2010
Human rights group Al-Haq have initiated criminal proceedings against a Dutch construction company for supplying equipment used to build the Separation wall and settlements. A complaint has been lodged with the state prosecutor, who pending the results of a police raid on Riwal%u2019s headquarters in Holland, may pursue criminal convictions.
Al-Haq hold video and photographic evidence of Riwal machinery being used to construct sections of Israel%u2019s Separation Wall and a building inside the settlement of Ariel. They claim to have sworn witness statements for these sightings.
Such construction would violate the International Criminal Court of Justice statute of 2004, ruling that the Wall is illegal. All settlements in the West Bank, of which is Ariel is the largest, are also illegal under international law. The Dutch Ministry of Justice have forbidden companies from involvement, making Riwal liable to punitive measures. Riwal have been under investigation since 2006.
A senior Al-Haq source told us they have taken measures to conceal their activities.
"Riwal have misinformed the Dutch government. They said a (subsidiary) Israeli company were using their label, but we know it is a fully Dutch company. They were instructed to stop but a year later their equipment was still being used in Bethlehem".
Al-Haq claim they and their international coalition of partners are seeking two things. That a criminal prosecution should punish the company for crimes under Dutch law, which could result in individuals facing fines or imprisonment. They also hope that firm action against Riwal could serve as a deterrant, making other companies aware of corporate responsibilities in the occupied territories.
Al-Haq believe Riwal are just one of "hundreds of foreign companies involved in settlement construction and providing IDF (Israeli army) equipment".
Riwal are relatively new but have become one of the largest construction companies operating in Israel. They have made no comment on the charges but with profitable businesses all over the world it could make business sense for them to follow other high-profile companies in relocating away from occupied Palestine. In 2008 Heineken closed their plant in Barkan%u2019s industrial area, on occupied land, following a blizzard of criticism led by Al-Haq. This time the group are hoping for an even more emphatic resolution.
http://bit.ly/cC2OtP
Dutch Company Face Criminal Charges For Building Separation Wall
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2ucglLHSDY
10 nov 2010, 02:24 , Respect -
Maria 2 nov 2010
Ma'an signs deal with Netherlands radio
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Ma'an has finalized a partnership agreement with Radio Netherlands Worldwide, network officials said Tuesday.
RNW is one of the top five international broadcasters alongside the British Broadcasting Corp., Voice of America, Radio France Internationale and Deutsche Welle.
"Ma'an and RNW share a common vision dedicated to providing accurate and unbiased news, background and cultural information to a broad audience via radio, television and the Internet," the network announced.
Communications and projects director Valentina Al-Ama says the Dutch network is known for its credibility and objectivity in news gathering. "They're committed to finding the truth and shedding light on different aspects of an event through taking all sides of the story," she said.
Ma'an general manager Raed Othman said the partnership would enable both sides to benefit from each other's expertise. Both Ma'an and RNW share a common vision to provide accurate, unbiased reports to a broad audience via radio, TV, and Internet, Othman said.
Ma'an radio director Muhammad Lahham said that through the partnership, beginning 1 November, every week Ma'an and RNW will trade three stories each for broadcast alongside regular programming. "The partnership marks the beginning of a fruitful relationship, allowing both parties to profit from each other's expertise and networks in the world of Internet and broadcast media," Lahham said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=330108
5 nov 2010
OIC warns about rising Islamophobia
Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu
The leader of the world's largest Islamic organization has likened the rise of Islamophobia in Europe and the US as "the rise of anti-Semitism in the 1930s."
Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), on Friday said xenophobia directed at Muslim immigrants was starting to have a definite effect, especially in Europe.
"I'm afraid that we are going through a process like the beginning of the '30s of the last century, when an anti-Semitic agenda became politically a big issue (together with) the rise of fascism and Naziism%u2026. I think now we are in the first stages of such a thing," he said in an interview with AFP.
The Turkish head of the OIC further added that instead of combating this trend politicians are exploiting the issue to gain more popular support.
"What worries me is that political authorities or political parties, instead of stopping this, or fighting this, some of them are using this for their political ends, to gain more popular support in elections," he said.
Ihsanoglu went on to say that Europe must open its eyes to the reality of Islam.
"Europe has to understand the reality of Islam today, and the reality that Islam is not an alien religion of Europe. Islam is a European religion, and Europe has to come to terms with Islam," he added.
The OIC head pointed to the protests in the US against the "Ground Zero" Islamic center in New York City, to the anti-burqa movement in Europe, and to physical attacks on Muslims on both sides of the Atlantic.
In September, Amnesty International warned that "fear, discrimination and persecution against Muslims" is on the rise in the United States.
The report said US officials should take strong action against attacks targeting the country's Muslim community.
http://www.presstv.com/detail/149722.html
Dutch college bans covering face
Muslim students of a college in the Netherlands can no longer cover their faces.
Officials in a college in the Netherlands have set a new rule for Muslim students, which allows them to cover their faces only up to their eyebrows.
The new rule that has been applied in the Gerrit Rietveld College located in the city of Utrecht has raised protests among the students in the college.
One of the members of Utrecht's city council said what happens in colleges is not always honest and students face strict rules until the age of 14.
Several days ago, one of the teachers of the school drew a line between a Muslim student's scarf and eyebrows, requiring the student to observe the new rule.
Some of the teachers have even tried to pull up the students' scarves themselves, an act that is totally insulting and is considered as violation of the students' privacy.
One of the students has reportedly been sick for four weeks due to such insulting incidents happening in the college.
A member of Amsterdam city council reacted to the news, saying he approved the rule which banned covering of the face. He stated that if such rules began to create problems then it would be better to ban Islamic hijab completely.
There have recently been many debates over Islamic veiling in the European countries leading to passage of rules which prevent Muslim women from observing their hijab the way they want.
A new rule which was passed a while ago in France considers covering of the face in public places as an offence.
http://www.presstv.com/detail/149711.html 10 nov 2010, 02:24 , Respect -
Maria 8 nov 2010
Israeli conference to discuss allocating Jordan as state for Palestinians
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Netherlands MP Geert Wilders, known for his hostility against Islam, is scheduled to attend a conference in Israel to discuss a plan to turn Jordan into a national homeland for Palestinians and shoot down the two-states proposal which provides for the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank.
Israeli Knesset members will discuss during the conference the advantages and disadvantages of allocating Jordan as a state for the Palestinians and dumping the two-states solution.
MP Wilders previously called for a ban on building mosques in Holland and spread an offensive film about the Prophet Mohammed that outraged more than a billion and a half Muslims across the planet.
Israeli MK Aryeh Eldad said: The Dutch MP was invited to the conference as one of the strongest supporters of the establishment of a Palestinian state in Jordan.
http://bit.ly/dejvbg
Zionist Geert Wilders' very own two-state solution
Dutch demagogue teams up with Israeli rightists to claim that 'Jordan is Palestine'.
Two fervent supporters of a two-state-solution who plan to join forces next month to call for the establishment of an independent Palestine look set to spark more hostility than praise from Israel's peace camp.
For Aryeh Eldad, a Knesset member for the ultra-hardline National Union party, Palestinian statehood has little to do with UN resolutions, 1967 borders and the status of East Jerusalem a Palestinian state is ready and waiting, and it's called Jordan.
The idea that 'Jordan is Palestine' is, of course, not new and has long been espoused by the extreme right as a way for Jewish settlers to hold on to the West Bank. It even came close to becoming reality, when in 1970 Black September guerillas nearly succeeded in overthrowing the Jordanian government.
But when next month Eldad hosts a conference to call for an end to U.S.-sponsored peace talks with the Palestinians, he will enjoy added support from an unlikely backer: Firebrand Dutch politician Geert Wilders, whose anti-Muslim polemics in March shot his PVV party to election success in the Netherlands, where it is now the third largest parliamentary party and where he is currently on trial for inciting hatred against Muslims..
"Wilders supports the program and will present [to the conference] his view that establishing a Palestinian state on the Western bank of the River Jordan will pose an existential threat to Israel," Eldad said Sunday.
Wilders, whose policies include introducing Israeli-type 'administrative detention' or arrest without trial, banning the building of mosques and suspending immigration of non-Western foreigners to the Netherlands, has in the past angered the Jordanian government with his Jordan-is-Palestine rhetoric and claims that Jerusalem is the "main front protecting the West" from Islam.
"Jordan is Palestine," said Wilders in a widely-quoted campaign speech in June 2010. "Changing its name to Palestine will end the conflict in the Middle East and provide the Palestinians with an alternate homeland."
http://bit.ly/9OQPmj 18 nov 2010, 14:10 , Respect -
Maria 9 nov 2010
Dutch anti-Islam politician to take part in conference to 'change Jordan's name to Palestine'
Geert Wilders, to join forces with Israel's right-wing and participate in the conference scheduled for next month.
Israeli media sources have reported that steps are being taken toward holding a right-wing Israeli conference to address the issue of changing Jordan into a nation-state for the Palestinian people, with no consideration to Jordan's sovereignty.
In its Monday (8.11.2010) issue, Haaretz reported that a large number of right-wing Israeli figures will discuss a plan to demand that the Israeli government dismiss the principle of the "two-state solution" because it "will pose an existential threat to Israel" should it ever be implemented. Alternatively, the conference will propose to change Jordan into a nation state for the Palestinian people.
The daily newspaper stated that Israeli Knesset member, Aryeh Eldad, has succeeded in convincing Dutch Member of Parliament, Geert Wilders, to join forces with Israel's right-wing and participate in the conference scheduled for next month.
Haaretz quoted Eldad as saying, "Wilders supports the program and will present [to the conference] his view that establishing a Palestinian state on the Western Bank of the River Jordan will pose an existential threat to Israel".
Wilders, who heads the third largest parliamentary party in the Netherlands, is well known for his campaigning and policies against Islam and Muslims. He is a strong supporter of Israel and considers it "the main front protecting the West". He is also known for his "Jordan is Palestine" rhetoric.
http://bit.ly/bFi1mi 18 nov 2010, 14:11 , Respect -
Maria 12 nov 2010
Flashmob 'Israeli Apartheid Wall'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1XzRFjfslY
Major Dutch pension fund divests from occupation
The major Dutch pension fund Pensioenfonds Zorg en Welzijn (PFZW), which has investments totaling 97 billion euros, has informed The Electronic Intifada that it has divested from almost all the Israeli companies in its portfolio.
PGGM, the manager of the major Dutch pension fund PFZW, has adopted a new guideline for socially responsible investment in companies which operate in conflict zones.
In addition, PFZM has also entered into discussions with Motorola, Veolia and Alstom to raise its concerns about human rights issues. All three companies have actively supported and profited from Israel's occupation of the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip.
Over the past few years, activists in the Netherlands have questioned the two largest pension funds PFZW and ABP about their holdings in companies profiting from the Israeli occupation of Palestine. In September 2009, the Norwegian State Pension Fund decided that it would no longer invest in companies that directly contribute to violations of international humanitarian law. By February 2010, ABP, the largest Dutch pension fund, informed The Electronic Intifada it had also divested from the Israeli company Elbit Systems. At the same time, PFZW confirmed that it held shares in Elbit Systems worth 1.6 million euros.
However, the pension fund was reevaluating its investments in Israeli companies. At the time, PFZW held shares in thirteen Israeli companies, including four banks, several telecommunication companies, construction companies and Elbit Systems. In November 2009, PGGM informed The Electronic Intifada that the fund would approach divestment decisions on "Bank Hapoalim, Bank Leumi and other [Israeli] companies" in a structural manner. This was based on a "new policy on how to deal with investments in companies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict." That month, PGGM announced that PFZW was divesting from Africa-Israel for "technical reasons." Owned by Lev Leviev, Africa-Israel has been involved in the building of illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.
On 8 November, PGGM spokeswoman Diana Abrahams confirmed in a telephone conversation PFZW's divestment from almost all Israeli companies. Abrahams could give no further details and referred to PFZW's 2010 annual report, which will be published next year.
During this period, PGGM has also contributed to the development of guidelines for the United Nations Global Compact. The Global Compact is a strategic policy initiative for businesses that are committed to sustainability and responsible business practices which started in 2000. The initiative is endorsed by chief executives and seeks to align their operations and strategies with ten universally-accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption. Last year PGGM was involved in developing a guideline for business operations in combat zones.
The decision by the Dutch pension funds to divest from Israeli companies is yet another indicator for the success of the international boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign. It is likely only a matter of time before these funds and others divest from the international corporations which profit from Israel's occupation.
Adri Nieuwhof is a consultant and human rights advocate based in Switzerland.
Guus Hoelen, secretary of Werkgroep Keerpunt, involved in divestment campaigns in the Netherlands.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11621.shtml 19 nov 2010, 14:41 , Respect -
Maria 19 nov 2010
Homeland by George Sluizer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTXn3I9X3pA
- George Sluizer's deeply personal and impassionned movie HOMELAND is an emotive reflection on war. His story is set in the ongoing tragedy of the Palestinian diaspora.
Dutch Film Director Accuses Ariel Sharon of Killing Two Palestinian Children in 1982
George Sluizer
George Sluizer declared that in 1982 he saw then Israeli defense minister Ariel Sharon shooting Palestinian children from near the Sabra-Shatilla refugee camp, Beirut, while he was filming a documentary. Israel officials called report a 'modern blood libel'.
The accusation was first made in Volkskrant, a Dutch newspaper, during an interview to George Sluizer, who was promoting the screening of his most recent film about Israel in the International Documentary Film Festival of Amsterdam.
According to Sluizer, who has made several documentaries about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he saw Sharon killing two Palestinian children with a pistol in 1982, near the refugee camp Sabra-Shatilla in Lebanon. Sharon was an Israeli minister of defense at that time.
Sharon shot two children like you shoot rabbits, in front of my eyes, he added.
Sluizer gave more details and reported hat the children were two or three years old and that Sharon shot them from a distance of 10 meters with a pistol. However, he could not specify in which month the event occurred, but he thought it was in November.
Meanwhile, Israeli government's officials have been quick to deny accusations, claiming that the statement is not supported by a single shred of evidence and that it is very cruel to accuse Sharon of committing a murder when he cannot defend himself, Haaretz reported.
Firstly, Sharon would never shoot a child; secondly, he was not in Lebanon in November of 1982: and thirdly, protocol prohibits ministers from wearing weapons, Sharon's successor as defense minister, Moshe Arens, explained.
In an interview for Haaretz, Sluizer defended his statement and said that after seeing the shooting, he had complained against Sharon in the International Court of Justice in Hague and the European Court of Human Right in Strasbourg, in 1983.
However, Israeli officials pointed out that no evidences that support that complaint have been found and added that they have warned the Dutch magazine to be careful when publishing anything that is not corroborated.
Sharon is currently in a permanent vegetative state after suffering a stroke in January 2006.
http://bit.ly/brkHlo 2 dec 2010, 01:31 , Respect -
Maria 21 nov 2010
Dutch filmmaker: I saw Sharon shoot two Palestinian toddlers at close range
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Dutch filmmaker George Sluizer spread in the media this month accusations that former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon killed two Palestinian children in a refugee camp in Beirut in 1982 while he was serving as the Israeli war minister.
Sharon fired a pistol at two Palestinian children in front of my eyes, as if he was firing at rabbits.
Sluizer said he witnessed the murders while filming a documentary in Lebanon two months after the Sabra-Shatila massacre.
I was standing very close to Sharon, who was the minister of defense at that time, while he fired at them at a distance of around ten meters with a pistol he carried.
Sluizer's made similar remarks in an interview with the weekly magazine Vrij Nederland, which regularly publishes important investigative reports, to mark a documentary film festival in Amsterdam during which one of Sluizer's documentaries will be presented in which he is filmed saying to a Sharon effigy that he wishes he would have died in Auschwitz.
The Israeli daily Haaretz quoted Friday Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Yossi Levy as claiming that Sluizer's allegations were "lies, claiming that it is hard to believe that any reasonable person could take seriously this modern blood libel.
http://bit.ly/cI6EL2 2 dec 2010, 01:31 , Respect -
Maria 25 nov 2010
Dutch government secures limited exports for Gaza
Foto Maria FlotillaHyves
GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Israeli officials approved the export of strawberries and carnations from Gaza for the second year in a row under a continuing Dutch government program to support farmers in the coastal enclave, officials confirmed Thursday, but said that approval for the export of a limited number of vegetables remained pending.
Palestinian crossings liaison official Raed Fattouh said Wednesday that Israel had agreed to some limited exports, with two truckloads of strawberries set to leave the Strip on Sunday as a trial run for the season.
Director of the Dutch initiative in Gaza Yousef Shaath said the strawberry export season was expected to last from 28 November to 24 February, with a total of 700 tons of the fruit set to pass out of the coastal enclave.
Carnation export, the official said, was expected to begin on 5 December and last until 10 May, with 30 million stems scheduled for delivery to flower auction houses in Amsterdam.
Israeli delays in the start of the export season for 2009 saw less than half of the scheduled 40 million stems reach their destination, with some 25 million flowers fed to livestock after perishing due to the wait.
Cherry tomatoes, sweet peppers
The still devastated Gaza economy and the success of the Dutch government program for 2009 lead to a limited expansion of the project for 2010, with a $2.6 million grant from the Netherlands supporting the planting of 50 dunums of cherry tomatoes and 50 dunums of sweet peppers in addition to the more than 700 dunums of strawberries and carnations.
"Dutch officials met with Israeli government personnel on Wednesday to push the issue," Shaath said, adding that "until now we do not have a commitment for the export of the vegetables."
The products, Shaath explained, were planted specifically for export, "these are cash crops, selling them on the local market would not even make back the total cost of planting and harvesting," saying organizers hoped to receive approval for the export in the coming days.
Gaza's only exports
With Israel's siege on the Gaza Strip continuing to prohibit all other exports, the farming products sold under the auspices of the Dutch government initiative remains the only trade commerce program in the area.
In 2009, carnations from Gaza sold at an average auction price of €0.12, earning an estimated €1.8 million for farmers.
"The income goes directly to the farmers," Shaath said, "the Dutch program gives grants to producers," covering much of the basic costs involved in the growing and harvesting process, then secures passage for the products.
"We are starting small with the vegetables this year since we do not know if they will be accepted for export," Shaath said, "but the margins for the cherry tomatoes and sweet peppers are better for the farmers."
If the export proposal is not accepted, the goods will likely be sold locally for below cost.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=335620 7 dec 2010, 22:48 , Respect -
Maria 5 dec 2010
Geert Wilders in Tel Aviv: 'Your country is the cradle of Western civilization'
It is now painfully apparent that Barack Hussein Obama's dull-witted adherence to Franz Fanon, "Wretched of the Earth"-inspired Third Worldism could be described as,
For Obama, Islam IS Third Worldism
Perhaps that is why our Manchild President cares so little for Israel -- certainly its Jewish inhabitants, and their government -- Israel being the only modern, fully functioning pluralistic democracy amidst a barren landscape of Arab Muslim nations and their fanatical theocratic, thugocratic, kleptocratic, and just plain lunocratic "governments." But it is to these irredentist Islamic societies that the Manchild pays homage.
In stark contrast to our President, Netherlands PPV Leader Geert Wilders offered the following uncompromised, historically accurate support of the State of Israel, today (December 5, 2010):
I am not ashamed to stand with Israel, but proud. I am grateful to Israel. I will always defend Israel. Your country is the cradle of Western civilization. We call it the Judeo-Christian civilization with good reason.
The world looks at the plight of the Palestinians in refugee camps in Lebanon, Gaza, and other places, and many blame Israel. The UN claims that there are over 4.7 million Palestinian refugees, and many blame Israel. These voices say the Palestinians should be allowed to return to "Palestine." But where is Palestine? Many say Israel must solve the problems of Palestine. But is Israel guilty of the plight of the Palestinian refugees?"
My answer is "No." The Arab leaders are to be blamed - and Islam is to be blamed. "We must speak the truth. The truth that Jordan is Palestine, the truth that Samaria and Judea are part of Israel, the truth that Jerusalem may not fall, the truth that Israel is the only democracy in a dark and tyrannical region, the truth that Israel is the linchpin of the West."
The full text of Geert Wilders, Tel Aviv speech earlier today, December 5, 2010 can be read here http://bit.ly/dPGz9U .
http://bit.ly/dZ1ddx
Dutch MP Wilders to Haaretz: There is a witch hunt against my party
Controversial anti-Islam Dutch politician Gert Wilders to visit Israel on Sunday; demonstration expected at site of his planned speech in Tel Aviv.
THE HAGUE - Geert Wilders' umpteenth visit to Israel on Sunday will offer him refuge not only from the cold gripping Holland, but also from the worst political storm to hit this famous and controversial Dutch politician so far.
For Wilders, this will be the first visit to Israel since reaching real power for the first time. And it will also be the first time he is greeted in Israel with protests by people who oppose his views.
Over the past month, reports about the questionable practices of some of the members of his Party for Freedom have dominated Dutch media, which seemed to relish breaking one scandal after another about the rightist, anti-Islam, anti-crime PVV party.
The latest scandal concerned Marcial Hernandez, who settled last week out of court for assault. Earlier, Eric Lucassen was found to have been convicted of sexual abuse in the army and to have reportedly threatened his neighbors. Yet another allegedly head-butted a waiter in a bar, and another was caught lying on his CV.
We made mistakes, I made mistakes, said an apologetic Wilders, who joined the coalition for the first time as a shadow partner in October after his party came out third largest in the June elections. His party received nine seats out of 150 in 2006.
He did not deny that a party with a law-and-order agenda such as his own is more exposed to attacks on this issue. Wilders said he doesn't blame the media for his mistakes, but nonetheless said they mounted a witch-hunt focused on the PVV.
Before the elections, Wilders produced a controversial 14-minute film against Islam, which was condemned by the government, socialites and prominent media figures.
"I apologize for what happened not only to my voters but also to all the parliamentarians," said Wilders, who promised to improve the vetting process for members. "Part of the problem is that we are a new party with new people."
According to recent polls, the party - which has 24 seats in parliament - has lost some seats after the scandals but is still third strongest, with 94 percent of PVV voters saying they still trust Wilders. "We're not an opposition party anymore without any ties or responsibilities," he commented.
But his party is not governing, supporting instead the coalition from outside the government. This, according to Wilders, is because of his views on Islam. Wilders has called to ban the Koran - which he described as comparable to Mein Kampf - and outlaw the building of new mosques.
We are not in the center of power, but we are in the center of influence, he said. Our insistence on our principles is the only reason we%u2019re out of the government and that I'm not the vice premier now, and this gives the freedom to say what I want wherever I want to.
And that, apparently, is in Israel. On Sunday, Wilders will deliver a speech in which he will outline his vision for Jordan as the Palestinian state.
In my speech I will show how Jordanian officials themselves called Jordan Palestine, until the 1970s, he said.
In 2008, Jordanian authorities prosecuted Wilders over his anti-Islam statements for with "blasphemy and contempt of Muslims," and have summoned the Dutch ambassador to protest Wilders' policies.
The Dutch government will have to explain that I am not a part of it and do not represent its policies, Wilders said when asked if he's not concerned his statements are damaging his country's relations with Arab nations. The Jordanians can learn something about democracy from it.
Unlike his frequent visits to Israel in the past, he will this time be formally received as a guest of Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. Wilders has said he was proud to be compared with Lieberman.
A group of left-wing, Dutch-born Israelis are planning to greet Wilders with a demonstration against the hate-monger from Holland, as they describe him. A number of human rights observers from the West Bank are also planning to demonstrate near Ganei Yehoshua in Tel Aviv, where Wilders will speak.
Upon Wilders' insistence, Israel became the only foreign country mentioned in the Dutch government's coalition agreement. Wilders - who lived for two years in Kibbutz Tomer in his youth - demanded that the agreement declare support for Israel.
He said this is changing the Dutch government's attitude to Israel. He cited the rebuke by the Dutch foreign minister last week of ICCO - a large humanitarian organization which spent public funds on the anti-Israel site The Electronic Intifada.
He also supports closer scrutiny and possible rebuke of the Dutch embassy in Israel. Wilders said he has received reports that the Dutch embassy played a key role in causing the dis-invitation in September of Israeli mayors who planned to visit Holland, because some were from West Bank settlements.
Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal will have to look at what's happening in the Dutch embassy in Israel, Wilders said. Diplomats often make one doubt whether they are promoting Dutch interests or the country where they are posted, or, as in this case, maybe an entity nearby.
Earlier this year, Haaretz reported the Dutch embassy in Tel Aviv was funding the organization Breaking the Silence - which strives to expose and publicize Israeli human rights violations - to the tune of 19,950 euros. Any funding over 20,000 euros requires authorization from the foreign ministry in the Hague, known for its pro-Israel stance.
http://bit.ly/ev74rf
'Hate monger' Wilders invited to Israel
Dutch right-wing politician Geert Wilders
Controversial Dutch hardliner and anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders is to visit Israel on Sunday, as demonstrations are expected at the site of his planned speech in Tel Aviv.
Unlike the frequent personal visits he has previously made to Israel, this time he has been officially invited by Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Israeli daily Ha'aretz reported.
The 47-year-old leader of the Party for Freedom has been one of the most vocal supporters of the Israeli regime in Europe. He has been compared to the hard-line, anti-Palestinian Israeli foreign minister, something that Wilders has said he is proud of.
Wilders is expected to be greeted by huge protests, as many rights activists and Arab residents in Israel have described him as the hate-monger from Holland.
He was internationally denounced after he produced an anti-Islamic film, called 'Fitna'.
Germans and Britons have staged protest rallies against Wilder when he visited their countries for the screening of the Islamaphobic movie.
Fitna, which means ordeal, also drew strong criticism from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who called the 17-minute movie "offensively anti-Islamic."
In 2009, British officials refused the politician's entry into the county, denouncing him as a "genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat to one of the fundamental interests of society." The ban was, however, overturned in October after he appealed the decision.
The controversial politician has been on trial in his own country facing several charges that include inciting racial and religious hatred. He has also called for the banning of the holy Qur'an as well as outlawing construction of new mosques.
http://www.presstv.com/detail/153948.html 7 dec 2010, 22:57 , Respect -
Maria 6 dec 2010
Geert Wilders in de zak van Sinterklaas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMsZBl437nE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyTh9ap-Rgk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGBqy9IEJa0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmbC7t0jAts
Wilders: Israel must annex WB
Anti-Islam Dutch politician Geert Wilders speaks during a conference for Israel's rightist party Hatikva in Tel Aviv on December 5, 2010.
Islamophobic Dutch politician Geert Wilders has called on Israel to annex the occupied West Bank through expansion of settlements.
The Associated Press quoted Wilders as urging Tel Aviv on Sunday to build more settlements in the West Bank in defiance of international calls for a construction freeze, the Jerusalem Post reported.
The hardline anti-Islam politician said that continued settlement activity would help Israel create defensible borders by annexing the West Bank.
Visiting Tel Aviv on Sunday, Wilders also said that neighboring Jordan should take in Palestinians.
Unlike his former personal visits to Israel, Wilders was in Tel Aviv on Sunday upon an official invitation by Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.
The 47-year-old MP is the leader of the Netherland's Party for Freedom and has been described by human rights activists and Arab residents in Israel as "the hate-monger from Holland," and is compared to the hawkish, anti-Palestinian Israeli foreign minister.
Wilders faced protest rallies in Germany and Britain when he visited them for the screening of his largely condemned Islamaphobic movie, 'Fitna'.
Fitna, which means 'ordeal,' also drew strong criticism from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who called the 17-minute movie "offensively anti-Islamic."
In 2009, British officials refused the politician's entry into the county, denouncing him as a "genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat to one of the fundamental interests of society." The ban was, however, overturned in October after he appealed the decision.
The controversial politician has been on trial in the Netherlands on several charges such as inciting racial and religious hatred. He has also called for the banning of the Qur'an as well as outlawing construction of new mosques.
http://www.presstv.com/detail/154119.html
7 dec 2010
Dutch politician urges Jews to 'emigrate to US or Israel'
Former European Commissioner Frits Bolkestein says no future for Orthodox Jews in Holland because of 'anti-Semitism among Dutchmen of Moroccan descent'
Prominent Dutch politician Frits Bolkestein sparked an uproar in the Netherlands by saying practicing Jews had “no future here, and should emigrate to the US or Israel,” French newspaper Le Monde reported Tuesday.
In the recently released book "The Decay; Jews in a Rudderless Netherlands" by Manfred Gerstenfeld, chairman of the Board of Fellows at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, the former European Commissioner and ex-leader of Holland's ruling rightist VVD party is quoted as saying there is no future for Orthodox Jews in Holland because of "the anti-Semitism among Dutchmen of Moroccan descent, whose numbers keep growing."
He added that the increase in anti-Semitic incidents in the Netherlands over the past decade had led him to have limited confidence in the government's ability to fight anti-Semitism.
Bolkestein also said he was "pessimistic regarding the never-ending Israeli-Palestinian conflict that feeds anti-Semitism."
The Dutch parliament is expected to hold a special session to discuss Bolkestein's remarks.
Geert Wilders, the leader of the anti-Islam Party for Freedom, reacted by saying that “not Jews should emigrate, but anti-Semitic Moroccans.”
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3995574,00.html